MCS 150: Cryptanalysis

January Term 2007

This is a course in making and breaking codes. Students will be engaged in learning how to "crack" enciphered messages without knowing, at the outset, the enciphering keys. Beginning with cryptograms of the sort found in newspapers and puzzle books, we shall work our way through successively more complicated enciphering schemes and learn methods of attack based on exhaustive search, computer programs, statistics, and mathematics. This course will also survey the history of cryptography and modern developments, including public-key cryptography and data encryption techniques.
Prerequisites: Two years of high school algebra and tenacity

Syllabus

Dates	Reading: Sinkov	Reading: Singh	Class/lab topics
Jan. 3-4	Ch. 1	Introduction	Direct standard alphabets Modular arithmetic & affine transformations
Jan. 5	2.1-2.2	Ch. 1	Aristocrats: Monoalphabets with word divisions
Jan. 8	2.3-2.4		Patristocrats: Monoalphabets without word divisions Monoalphabets with symbols as cipher equivalents
Jan. 9			Exam 1
Jan. 10-12	Ch. 3	Ch. 2	Polyalphabetic substitution
Jan. 15			Exam 2
Jan. 16-17	Ch. 4		Polygraphic systems
Jan. 18		Chs. 3-4	Video: "Decoding Nazi Secrets" Public-key cryptography
Jan. 19		Ch. 6	Public-key cryptography
Jan. 22			Exam 3
Jan. 23-24	Ch. 5		Transpositions
Jan. 25-26			Student reports and presentations

Last updated 1/18/07